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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

When to Have Quiet Time?

There is a movement in the Christian world that says you can have quiet time with the Lord whenever you want and however you want. Well, I am going to go out of a limb and say that you need to have time with the Lord before starting your day.

Verses fill the Psalms and the Gospels of the importance of rising early to spend time with the Lord. Jesus, Himself, gave us the example in Mark 1:35 of rising early.

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.”

Throughout the Gospels we read that Jesus got away from it all to spend time with His Father. In Luke 5:16, “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."

As crazy as our day gets, it will never be as demanding and exhausting as what Jesus went through teaching the crowds and healing people. If Jesus rose early, we definitely can.

By beginning my day with the Lord, I am inviting the Lord to rule the day. I am asking the Holy Spirit to guide me. Also, when devotion time is first and foremost on the list, there is less of a chance that my day will end without me spending time in the Word.

Most exercise programs call for five times a week with two days of rest. Often times my devotional schedule look like this. Somehow I reason in my mind that waking up early on the weekends isn’t really necessary. Everyone deserves to sleep in, right? But what I have found is that while I may gain some more shuteye, my family needs me at my best. The only way that this will happen is when I have spent quality time with my Father. So, I encourage you not to stray too far from your set wake-up time just because the day of the week starts with the letter “S.”

"Momm-mmmy" used to be my wake-up call. It happened sporadically whether I liked it or not. Not too quickly, I learned that this did not work. It made for a hurried and crabby mommy.

Now, the local Christian radio station wakes me up at 5:00 each weekday morning and 6:00 most weekends. Our children are not allowed out of their bedrooms until 7:00 so these wake-up times give me one to two hours to get myself ready for the day - both spiritually and physically.

Still getting up several times a night to nurse? The early morning feedings provide a great time to read and pray. Do your kiddos wake up at different times each morning? Mine did to. But at a very young age, we trained them to play in their rooms or cribs until we came to get them. It wasn't easy but it was so worth the effort.

Ephesians 5:16 says, "Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days." Seize the moment. Don't sleep it away.

6 comments
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Wow, this is good Heidi. I love to sleep way too much and because my son is a great sleeper (he usually doesn't wake up until around 8:30) then I use it as an excuse to get that extra sleep. But you are right, I used to get up early for my quiet times and I notice that it was making a difference in my life. But this confirms that I really do need to get back in that practice. Thanks for "stepping out on a limb." Right there with you know. :)

How did you go about training your children to stay in their room til you come get them? I have a almost 3yr old boy and he generally comes into our bed when my husband leaves for work (between 4 and 5 am) and will snuggle with me until we roll out of bed. If I set an alarm to get up early, he will get up with me, and since he will normally sleep until 8am, it really isn't necessary to get up at 4am with my husband. I would love suggestions for making this work, I know I need to move my quiet time to the morning (instead of naptime or at bedtime). Thank you!

Shelly - This is a good question. Since there can be several parts to it, I will answer your question in full through a blog post next week. But the short of it, you train him just like you train him for any other issue. Explain what is going to happen (change) and then whenever he doesn't follow the new way, you guide him back to obedience. The simpliest way is to immediately return him to his room. Secondly, give him a clock or light that he can know when it is okay to get up. (The clock has a certain number, the light is on/off.) I am sure that this is as clear as mud but I will go into more details next week. Let me know if you have additional questions and I will add it to the post.- Heidi

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About Me

Welcome to my little place on the web! I am a stay-at-home, Jesus-seekin' momma of four who loves to connect with and encourage other women! When I am not blogging or tweaking ideas for the ABCJLM Preschool Curriculum, you can find me doing the same things you do - loving, laughing, calming, training, and impressing upon our children to live for Christ in this "out-of-sync" world. So dive in and let's together figure out this thing called life. ~~Heidi

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